History Main / LongBusTrip

** The character Gin from the East Blue Saga stated that he wanted to see the Straw Hat Pirates again on the Grand Line. Over 800 chapters, half of the Grand Line, and a two year time skip later, Gin still has yet to be so much as mentioned again -- not even in the various covers that show characters worlds away from the main cast. And this is in a series where the author seemingly [[ChekhovsGunman never forgets about characters]]. Then again, Gin was suffering from Don Krieg's [=MH5=] poison at the time, and coughed up blood before he left, meaning [[BusCrash he could have died off-screen]].

** When Geese Howard was KilledOffForReal in 1995's ''[[VideoGame/FatalFury Real Bout Fatal Fury]]'', few were expecting him to show up in ''KOF'' the following year, even accounting for the series being an AlternateContinuity operating on the principle of SchrodingersCast. Since then, Geese usually sends [[TheDragon his right-hand man]], Billy, to KOF in his stead and only personally joins the tournament on occasion. So far, we have the console ports of ''2002'' (2004/2005), the [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 PS2]] port of ''XI'' (2006), ''[='98=]: [[UpdatedRerelease Ultimate Match]]'' (2008), ''2002: [[UpdatedRerelease Unlimited Match]]'' (2009), ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXIV XIV]]'' (2016), and ''XV'' (2022). His Nightmare form also appears in ''VideoGame/KOFMaximumImpact 2'' (2006), with the ''Maximum Impact'' games being another AlternateContinuity where Geese is dead yet again.
** A very interesting example with K9999. Debuting in ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters2001'', the first entry of the series where Creator/{{SNK}} was forced to pair up with Eolith due to their 2000 bankruptcy, K9999 was one of that saga's many [[OpeningACanOfClones "Kyo clones"]] created by the NESTS cartel but was not well-received due to being a blatant CaptainErsatz of [[Manga/{{Akira}} Tetsuo Shima]] -- right down to [[Creator/NozomuSasaki the voice actor]]. K9999 would make one more appearance in ''2002'' before SNK [[ExiledFromContinuity seemingly retired the character completely]], [[BuryYourArt replacing him]] in ''2002: Unlimited Match'' with Nameless, a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute who was far more original in terms of design and powers (and depicted in a sympathetic light). Then along came ''KOF XV'', which introduced Krohnen, a blue-haired, yellow-wearing former NESTS operative who's incredibly similar to K9999... and that's because he ''[[CharlieBrownFromOuttaTown is]]'' K9999, having adopted a new alias to evade his former employers (with the Tetsuo traits being toned down considerably and Krohnen [[CompositeCharacter adopting aspects of fellow "clones" K' and Nameless for his revamped design and moveset]], all to avoid any possible grounds for a lawsuit).

* The ''[[VideoGame/LikeADragon Yakuza]]'' series has Kaoru Sayama, who was introduced in [[VideoGame/Yakuza2 the second game]] as a love interest for Kiryu only to leave for the States at the beginning of [[VideoGame/Yakuza3 the third game]] and never be heard from again. She would return to the series in ''Videogame/LikeADragonInfiniteWealth'', 15 years after her last chronological appearance.

** Fer(r)etti in ''Series/StargateSG1''. Kawalsky's death in the first regular episode leaves him the only surviving member of the original ''Film/{{Stargate}}'' team other than O'Neil(l) and Daniel, and he was shown to be leading an SG team of his own in his several-second cameo in the first season finale. He was mentioned once more in season three, then permanently and entirely forgotten, though as a team leader, you'd think he'd at least be seen or mentioned around the SGC every so often. (Meanwhile, via flashbacks, {{time travel}}, and {{parallel universe}}s, ''Kawalsky'' has returned ''plenty'' of times.)
*** Of course, the really weird thing about this is that Ferretti was made leader of [=SG2=] at the end of his last appearance, and [=SG2=] is never shown or mentioned again. [=SG3=] are recurring characters, and teams with numbers up to 25 are mentioned sometimes, but [=SG2=] is never spoken of. It's almost as though the writers were planning to have him make an appearance at some point, but never got around to it.

** Likewise, Valve is directly invoking this trope for [[VideoGame/{{Portal}} Chell]], so as to stick to their desired plan of using a different protagonist in future games. Chell was only brought back for ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'' by playtester demand.
*** However, [[WordOfGod Gabe Newell]] has said that Chell will have some importance in the ''Half-Life'' universe, so who knows?

** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Remake'' notwithstanding, Jill Valentine's last canonical appearance was in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilRevelations'' (2012). She was missing from the series for a full 11 years until finally returning in the CGI film ''Anime/ResidentEvilDeathIsland''. InUniverse with the film set in 2015, it’s technically a much shorter bus ride with her chronological appearance being ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil5 RE5]]'' (2009).'

** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Remake'' notwithstanding, Jill Valentine's last canonical appearance was in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilRevelations'' (2012). She was missing from the series for a full 11 years until finally returning in the CGI film ''Anime/ResidentEvilDeathIsland''. InUniverse it's been ''even longer'', with her last chronological appearance being ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil5 RE5]]'' (2009).

* The ''[[VideoGame/LikeADragon Yakuza]]'' series has Kaoru Sayama, who was introduced in [[VideoGame/Yakuza2 the second game]] as a love interest for Kiryu only to leave for the States at the beginning of [[VideoGame/Yakuza3 the third game]] and never be heard from again.

** [[OneShotCharacter Marine the Raccoon]] from ''[[VideoGame/SonicRushSeries Sonic Rush Adventure]]'' is one of the few characters that's most likely to come back. Yet as of 2011, [[OneShotCharacter we haven't heard from her since her first game appearance]]. However, she was briefly mentioned in the DS version of ''VideoGame/SonicColors'' as well as a costume in ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndSonicAtTheOlympicGames Mario & Sonic at The London 2012 Olympic Games]]''.

** Venonat and Venomoth haven't appeared in a regional Pokédex since ''[[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Johto]]'' and are in fact the '''only''' [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Gen I]] Pokémon to have this distinction as of [[VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield Gen VIII]].

* At the end of the first arc of ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', Theresia, the daughter of the Apostle Count, swears to kill Guts as revenge for her father's death. She has yet to be mentionned over 300 chapters later.

* On ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'', Mark Brendanawicz left his city planning job for the government to take a new architect job at a private construction company in the Season 2 finale. Although the writers kept the door open for a return and planned to have Mark [[DropInCharacter come back every once in a while]], those plans never materialized. This was partly due to the writers just simply not being able to work out a way to bring him back and partly because actor Creator/PaulSchneider [[https://screencrush.com/paul-schneider-interview/ had no interest or desire to come back after feeling like his character was being left behind]] while the show was [[GrowingTheBeard finding more of its own identity and style]] away from its [[Series/TheOfficeUS parent series]]. It also crosses over into ChuckCunninghamSyndrome territory as even though Mark should still be living in Pawnee, a relatively small town, he is never seen, heard from, or even ''mentioned'' again, to the point of seeming like an UnPerson in the eyes of the writers. Notably, he's among the few characters to not make a cameo appearance in the final season or the GrandFinale (which is made all the more egregious by how the series managed to get multiple other prominent side characters BackForTheFinale), doesn't appear in any flashback clips, and wasn't brought back for the 2020 ReunionShow either.

* On the series ''Series/{{Becker}},'' the character "Reggie" (Terry Farrell) was put on one when Farrell was booted from the series under suspicious circumstances (she has told interviewers that it came as a complete shock to her and that she is unsure of exactly why it happened, although she reportedly led a strike among the show's cast). Farrell was even fired before the episode was filmed, and thus never even ''appeared'' on the episode where she was placed on the long bus trip, but was dismissed in a rather unflattering way where Farrell herself vanished but Reggie's continued presence was inferred (i.e. it was simply ''related'' that she slept with Becker, and it made her realize that she needed a change ''immediately''). This was all done in a ''very'' implausibly slipshod way, obviously trumped up at the last minute: i.e. it was inferred that Reggie was popping in and out without Farrell ever being on-camera during the entire episode, and finally Reggie said good-bye to the cast in a phone-call that was ''dictated'' to them all by a complete stranger (don't ask -- I ''said'' it was implausibly slipshod).

* On ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'', Mark Brendanawicz left his city planning job for the government to take a new architect job at a private construction company in the Season 2 finale. Although the writers kept the door open for a return and planned to have Mark [[DropInCharacter come back every once in a while]], he instead simply dropped out of the show entirely. This was partly due to the writers just simply not being able to work out a way to bring him back and partly because actor Creator/PaulSchneider [[https://screencrush.com/paul-schneider-interview/ had no interest or desire to come back after feeling like his character was being left behind]] while the show was [[GrowingTheBeard finding more of its own identity and style]] away from its [[Series/TheOfficeUS parent series]]. Even though Mark should still be living in Pawnee, a relatively small town, he is never seen, heard from, or even ''mentioned'' again, to the point of seeming like an UnPerson in the eyes of the writers. Notably, he's among the few characters to not make a cameo appearance in the final season, doesn't appear in any flashback clips, and wasn't brought back for the 2020 ReuinionShow either.

* On ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'', Mark Brendanawicz left his city planning job for the government to take a new architect job at a private construction company in the Season 2 finale. Although the writers kept the door open for a return and planned to have Mark [[DropInCharacter come back every once in a while]], he instead simply dropped out of the show entirely. This was partly due to the writers just simply not being able to work him in and partly because actor Creator/PaulSchneider [[https://screencrush.com/paul-schneider-interview/ had no interest or desire to come back after feeling like his character was being left behind]] while the show was [[GrowingTheBeard finding more of its own identity and style]] away from its [[Series/TheOfficeUS parent series]]. Even though Mark should still be living in Pawnee, a relatively small town, he is never seen, heard from, or even ''mentioned'' again, to the point of seeming like an UnPerson in the eyes of the writers. This was especially noticeable in the Season 5 episodes "Halloween Surprise" (when Ann, whom he dated for most of Season 2, clears out a bunch of stuff she acquired from her previous relationships to sell for charity and has a box for every other ex-boyfriend she's had ''except'' for Mark) and "Pawnee Commons" (the park plans he drew up for Lot 48 and gave to Leslie during the Season 2 finale seem to have been forgotten about).

** The departure of David Caruso was an example of this trope. Detective John Kelly doesn't even resign from the force. He simply moves to another precinct, leaving the option open for potential guest appearances in the future. There were even some hints later in the same season of his character coming back to be the best man at Detective Sipowicz's wedding, but a handwave was used to explain why it doesn't actually happen (in real life the actor simply would not have agreed to return, even as a one-shot guest appearance, nor would producer David Milch have wanted him back).

* On ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'', Mark Brendanawicz left his city planning job for the government to take a new architect job at a private construction company in the Season 2 finale. This was originally intended to turn him into a DropInCharacter, but instead, he simply dropped out of the show entirely (actor Creator/PaulSchneider wanted to return to movies and had little desire to return to the show). Even though Mark should still be living in Pawnee, a relatively small town, he is never seen, heard from, or even ''mentioned'' again, to the point of seeming like an UnPerson in the eyes of the writers. This was especially apparent in the Season 5 episodes "Halloween Surprise" (when Ann, whom he dated for most of Season 2, clears out boxes full of stuff she's acquired from her previous relationships out of her house to sell for charity and she doesn't have a box for Mark) and "Pawnee Commons" (the park plans he drew up for Lot 48 and gave to Leslie during the Season 2 finale seem to have been forgotten).

* On ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'', Mark Brendanawicz left his city planning job for the government to take a new architect job at a private construction company in the Season 2 finale. This was originally intended to turn him into a DropInCharacter, but instead he simply dropped out of the show entirely (actor Paul Schneider wanted to return to movies and had little desire to return to the show). Even though Mark should still be living in Pawnee, a relatively small town, he is never seen, heard from or even ''mentioned'' again, to the point of seeming like an UnPerson in the eyes of the writers. This was especially apparent in the Season 5 episodes "Halloween Surprise" (when Ann, whom he dated for most of Season 2, clears out boxes full of her ex-boyfriends' stuff from her house, there's ''no box for Mark'') and "Pawnee Commons" (the park plans he drew up for Lot 48 and gave to Leslie during the Season 2 finale seem to have been forgotten).
* On the sixties sitcom ''Series/PetticoatJunction'', the show's star, Bea Benederet, died abruptly during the sixth season. Benederet played Kate Bradley, a widowed mom had just become a grandmother (in an episode where Benederet was too ill to appear and was played by a FakeShemp). In a couple episodes immediately following the birth of the baby, characters mentioned that Kate had to rush out of town and care for a sick relative. After that, she is barely mentioned again, and the show carries on almost as if she never existed. In one episode of the seventh season, her daughters remember her teaching them how to swim, and they seem a little sad, but it's left up to the viewers to decide if Kate died or not.

** When Geese Howard was KilledOffForReal in 1995's ''[[VideoGame/FatalFury Real Bout Fatal Fury]]'', few were expecting him to show up in ''KOF'' the following year, even accounting for the series being an AlternateContinuity operating on the principle of SchrodingersCast. Since then, Geese usually sends [[TheDragon his right-hand man]], Billy, to KOF in his stead and only personally joins the tournament on occasion. So far, we have the console ports of ''2002'' (2004/2005), the [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 PS2]] port of ''XI'' (2006), ''[='98=]: [[UpdatedRerelease Ultimate Match]]'' (2008), ''2002: [[UpdatedRerelease Unlimited Match]]'' (2009), ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXIV XIV]]'' (2016), and ''XV'' (2022). His Nightmare form also appears in ''KOF: Maximum Impact 2'' (2006), with the ''Maximum Impact'' games being another AlternateContinuity where Geese is dead yet again.

** Rebecca Chambers tops even Barry, being gone from the story since ''[=RE1=]''[[labelnote:*]] ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil0 RE0]]'', while released in 2002, was a prequel and therefore doesn't count [[/labelnote]] before finally returning in the CG film ''Anime/ResidentEvilVendetta'' a whole 21 years later.
** Claire Redfield, putting aside the CG media, hadn't appeared in a game since 2000's ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica''. She'd wouldn't returning in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilRevelations2'', 15 years later.
** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Remake'' notwithstanding, Jill Valentine's last canonical appearance was in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilRevelations'' (2012). She was missing from the series for a full 11 years until finally returning in the ''Resident Evil: Dead Island film''. InUniverse it's been ''even longer'', with her last chronological appearance being ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil5 RE5]]'' (2009).

** [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehogTripleTrouble Fang the Sniper/Nack the Weasel]], [[VideoGame/SonicTheFighters Bean the Dynamite, and Bark the Polar Bear]]. The first debuted in a handheld side game and was a recurring character in spin-off titles. Bean and Bark, however, only appeared in one game. At least they got cameos as figurines or on [[LampshadeHanging wanted and missing posters]] in ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'' and Bean, Bark and Nack/Fang appeared as optical illusions in the boss fight against the Heavy Magician in ''VideoGame/SonicMania''.

** Barry Burton hadn't appeared in the series since ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil RE1]]'' before appearing in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilRevelations2'', a total of 19 years.
** Rebecca Chambers tops even Barry, being gone from the story since ''[=RE1=]'' [[labelnote:*]] ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil0 RE0]]'' while it made in 2002, was a prequel therefore doesn't count [[/labelnote]] before finally returning in CG film ''Anime/ResidentEvilVendetta'' a whole 21 years later.
** Claire Redfield putting aside the CG media, hadn't appeared in a game since ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica'' before returning in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilRevelations2'', 15 years later.
** Jill Valentine's last appearance was in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilRevelations'' and was gone for the series for a full 11 years until finally returning in the ''Resident Evil: Dead Island film''. InUniverse it's been ''even longer'' with her last chronological appearance being ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil5 RE5]]'' 14 years ago.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Yakuza}}'' series has Kaoru Sayama, who was introduced in [[VideoGame/Yakuza2 the second game]] as a love interest for Kiryu only to leave for the States at the beginning of [[VideoGame/Yakuza3 the third game]] and never be heard from again.

** Ash promised that he'd come back for Pidgeot when he returned. [[LongRunners Twenty-four seasons later]] (including four returns to Kanto), he came back for it right on the GrandFinale.

** Ash promised that he'd come back for Pidgeot when he returned. [[LongRunners Eighteen seasons later]] (including four returns to Kanto), he still hasn't come back for it.

* Greg the Spider from ''WebVideo/ArbyNTheChief'' left after being resented by Arbiter from a lie Chief forced him to tell. Considering [[StuffBlowingUp what happened at]] [[TearJerker/ArbyNTheChief the season's end]], he won't be coming back either.

* [[spoiler:Midgardsormr]] in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' plays a huge role towards the tail end of ''A Realm Reborn'' and the majority of ''Heavensward''. They also play a role in the Omega storyline in ''Stormblood'' where they wind up [[spoiler:using most of their aether to save the [[PlayerCharacter Warrior of Light]] from being killed by Omega]]. This puts them in a deep sleep to regain their spent energy and they haven't been seen or mentioned since.

** When Geese Howard was KilledOffForReal in 1995's ''[[VideoGame/FatalFury Real Bout Fatal Fury]]'', few were expecting him to show up in ''KOF'' the following year, even accounting for the series being an AlternateContinuity operating on the principle of SchrodingersCast. Since then, Geese usually sends [[TheDragon his right-hand man]], Billy, to KOF in his stead and only personally joins the tournament on occasion. So far, we have the console ports of ''2002'' (2004/2005), ''[='98=]: [[UpdatedRerelease Ultimate Match]]'' (2008), ''2002: [[UpdatedRerelease Unlimited Match]]'' (2009), ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXIV XIV]]'' (2016), and ''XV'' (2022). His Nightmare form also appears in ''KOF: Maximum Impact 2'' (2006), with the ''Maximum Impact'' games being another AlternateContinuity where Geese is dead yet again.

* In the contemporary arc of ''Webcomic/ArthurKingOfTimeAndSpace'' Ector was reactivated in the army and sent to Iraq, and that was basically the last we saw of him. In a much later newspost, Paul Gazikowski explained that Ector disappears from the source material at around the time Arthur becomes king, which makes sense in the baseline and space arcs, but that it's hard to justify the guardian of a modern 15-year-old simply fading from relevance. And he couldn't kill him off, because he wanted [[spoiler: Merlin]] to be the first major character death. So he was sent to Iraq, and never specifically said to have returned or been killed, until Arthur was old enough that maybe his foster father ''wouldn't'' be a constant fixture in his life.

* [[spoiler: Midgardsormr ]] in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' plays a huge role towards the tail end of ''A Realm Reborn'' and the majority of ''Heavensward''. They also play a role in the Omega storyline in ''Stormblood'' where they wind up [[spoiler: using most of their aether to save the [[PlayerCharacter Warrior of Light]] from being killed by Omega]]. This puts them in a deep sleep to regain their spent energy and they haven't been seen or mentioned since.

** A very interesting example with K9999. Debuting in ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters2001'', the first entry of the series where Creator/{{SNK}} was forced to pair up with Eolith due to their 2000 bankruptcy, K9999 was one of that saga's many [[OpeningACanOfClones "Kyo clones"]] created by the NESTS cartel but was not well-received due to being a blatant CaptainErsatz of [[Manga/{{Akira}} Tetsuo Shima]] -- right down to [[Creator/NozomuSasaki the voice actor]]. K9999 would make one more appearance in ''2002'' before SNK [[ExiledFromContinuity seemingly retired the character completely]], replacing him in ''2002: Unlimited Match'' with Nameless, a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute who was far more original in terms of design and powers (and depicted in a sympathetic light). Then along came ''KOF XV'', which introduced Krohnen, a blue-haired, yellow-wearing former NESTS operative who's incredibly similar to K9999... and that's because he ''[[CharlieBrownFromOuttaTown is]]'' K9999, having adopted a new alias to evade his former employers (with the Tetsuo traits being toned down considerably and Krohnen [[CompositeCharacter adopting aspects of fellow "clones" K' and Nameless for his revamped design and moveset]], all to avoid any possible grounds for a lawsuit).

* On the final episode of WebVideo/JonTron's ''Starcade'' series, it was revealed that Darth Vader was [[spoiler:actually Jon's former co-star on WebVideo/GameGrumps, Creator/{{Egoraptor}}. This was two years after Jon abruptly left Game Grumps, as many fans made several theories as to why he left by assuming the two weren't on good terms.]]

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'' introduced a character named "Derek The Diesel" who suffered from "teething troubles" . At the end of the episode he was sent off to have the "troubles" repaired, but aside from a cameo (from the back) during a music video in the special "Calling All Engines" he has not been seen since. Considering that his model was [[ShownTheirWork based on a locomotive design that really was that unreliable]] (details [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_17 here]]), it's entirely possible they're still not there yet.

* Greg the Spider from ''Machinima/ArbyNTheChief'' left after being resented by Arbiter from a lie Chief forced him to tell. Considering [[StuffBlowingUp what happened at]] [[TearJerker/ArbyNTheChief the season's end]], he won't be coming back either.